Page 29 of Meant for You

It was done. Over.

I glanced at her again and seeing her safe beside me helped to wash the last of it away.

It was hot as hell in Eves’s room. I usually slept naked, but since that wasn’t an option, I yanked off my shirt, flung it aside, and tried to get comfortable.

* * *

Despite being tired, I’d stayed awake most of the night, but I’d obviously managed to drift off early this morning, because I woke with the sun trying to burn my retinas out of my head and Everly plastered against me.

Only she felt a lot different than she had the last time I’d slept in the same bed as her.

I was on my back, and she was on her side facing me. The front of her hips was snugged up against my waist. She was under my arm, her head on my chest. One of her legs was thrown across me, her thigh on my dick, and her boobs mashed up against my ribs, soft and…so hot.

And fuck me. I could feel her fucking nipples.

I glanced down at her and my breathing became shallow, rougher. The light made her skin glow. Her lashes, a shade darker than her hair, rested on her smooth cheeks. My gaze dropped to her lips, pouty and full. The tight grip behind my ribs moved down low in my gut.

The sensation, I knew, was a mashup of a whole lot of emotions I’d been trying to suppress, truths I’d refused to believe, a fear so deep it shook me to my core.

And there was no locking all of that down anymore. Not now that I had her back.

I didn’t want to.

I’d done a lot of thinking in the dark when I couldn’t sleep, while Everly slept silently beside me, and I’d come to an obvious conclusion. Obvious because that’s exactly what it fucking was.

It was time to get out of my own damn way.

Everly was mine. She became mine the moment we met. The beautiful girl asleep beside me was meant for me, and I was meant for her.

I was in love with my best friend.

It didn’t hit like some lightning bolt. The truth settled around me while I watched her sleep. It was like a veil being lifted, revealing what had always been. Everly had dug in so deep, was a part of my soul, and I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it before.

I’d lain here and let that sink in.

Then I’d spent the next few hours analyzing my shit behavior in the past, really thought about my anger and where it came from. Helplessness was the big one, the driving force. And the more I’d acted out because of it, the farther I’d felt from Everly and the tighter I’d clung to her, terrified she’d see me the way I saw myself and leave me anyway.

Everyone I loved had left me. First, my parents had up and fucked off, because apparently they had better things to do than raise their sons. Then Cal, Bull, and Gran were taken away.

Then Everly.

They’d all been torn from me.

In the end, I’d been so fucking afraid of that happening again with Everly, I’d gotten in first. I’d fucked up so bad I thought I’d lost her forever, that I would never be good enough for her, and I’d walked away before I got hurt even more, and hurt us both in the process.

She loved me, I knew she did, but she’d given up on me because I’d given up on myself.

I knew what I had to do now. I knew what I wanted.

I had to get Everly to fall in love with me.

Anything else was unacceptable.

She stirred and jolted, like she’d given herself a fright. Then her head tipped back and she looked up at me, and instantly relaxed.

“I forgot you were here,” she said, trying to blink the sleepiness away.

Her hand was low on my stomach, and suddenly I was having trouble breathing. Now that I’d decided I could have her, I wanted her, so damn bad it was a struggle to hold myself back.